Freedom of religion
From Wikinfo
Freedom of religion is the right to hold any religious belief.
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, [and] to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance. [1]
The declaration extends freedom of thought by adding freedom of worship and freedom of religious observance, and is regarded as one of the human rights.
In practice most people continue to believe the religion they were taught during childhood. People have limited freedom to choose their religion.
During history some countries accepted some form of freedom of religion (e.g. Poland or certain Muslim countries) but very often that freedom was limited. In most parts of European society, freedom of religion was suppressed since the introduction of Christianity until the Enlightenment in the 18th century.
The ideas of religious tolerance on the political level were invented in the Central Europe: Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Hungary and Austria and were practised since 16th century. With expulsion of Polish brethren accused of high treason during The Deluge, the Central European ideas of tolerance were propagated to Netherlands. Until Enlightenment it was widely accepted, however not always fully implemented.
The Separation of Church and State is a related, but different concept.
Controversies in freedom of religion
See also
- United States Constitution
- French Revolution
- Warsaw Confederation
- Religious pluralism
- State church
- Tolerance
- Civil religion
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Freedom_of_religion" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_religion, used under the GNU Free Documentation License
